Rossi snatches pole number 46 in Qatar with new record2007-03-09 11:02The first race of the 2007 MotoGP World Championship season takes place tomorrow in Qatar, with the riders today attempting to secure a good start in qualifying. Conditions at the Losail International Circuit were near perfect for riding, with a comfortable heat and little wind to contend with. Valentino Rossi will begin his attempt to regain the MotoGP world title from pole position tomorrow, after a scorching lap at the end of the MotoGP session. The Italian put an incredible 1'55.002 lap on the board, edging out last year's poleman Casey Stoner by five thousandths of a second and smashing his pole record time of 1'55.683. It is Rossi's 46th career pole, and an ideal start to the 800cc era for the Italian. After fast times yesterday and this morning, Colin Edwards set the pace early on, before eventually taking the final spot on the front row. Toni Elias, Dani Pedrosa and John Hopkins completed the top six, the latter surprising many with his great ride at less than 100% fitness. Loris Capirossi will start from the head of row three tomorrow, holding off Randy de Puniet and reigning World Champion Nicky Hayden. Elias, Capirossi and Marco Melandri were amongst the riders to take a trip onto the gravel during the session, whilst there were crashes for Shinya Nakano and Jeremy McWilliams. The Ilmor GP rider will be in action tomorrow, having been examined for further damage to his injured leg. 250cc Jorge Lorenzo, the reigning 250cc World Champion out to retain his crown this season, will begin his title defence from the front spot at the Commercialbank Grand Prix Of Qatar. The Spaniard led the way at the final qualifying session for tomorrow's race, just over three tenths of a second faster than former team-mate Hector Barbera with a lap of 1'59.432. The duo will be joined on the front row by the Aspar team duo of Alex de Angelis and Alvaro Bautista, with the 125cc World Champion and previous winner in the category at Losail starting his first quarter litre race tomorrow. Fellow 250cc debutant Thomas Luthi rounded off an all-Aprilia top five, ahead of KTM rider Hiroshi Aoyama, Andrea Dovizioso and Mika Kallio. Yuki Takahashi and Julian Simon, two riders coming back from leg and shoulder injuries respectively, completed the top ten. 125cc In today's final 125cc qualifying practice, Gabor Talmacsi took the first pole position of the 2007 season. The Hungarian's hot lap came right at the end of the session, a time of 2'06.011 putting him ahead of Aspar team-mate Hector Faubel by less than one tenth of a second. Mattia Pasini, last year also a member of the Aspar team and now riding for Polaris World, was also close to the pole-setting lap, and starts from a front row completed by Derbi rider Lukas Pesek. Raffaele de Rosa, Sergio Gadea, Tomoyoshi Koyama and Esteve Rabat completed the top eight, with the latter qualifying faster than new team-mate Bradley Smith on his first attempt. The Briton himself had an impressive session, knocking a second off his first qualifying time to qualify ninth in a top ten rounded off by Simone Corsi. The Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar starts tomorrow from 12pm local time (GMT+3), with the MotoGP race kicking off at 3pm. Source: Dorna Communications Click here to visit our forums to discuss this story |
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